We just got back from another trip to Ol' Virginie -- had a great time with both our kids and their loved ones, visited some great vineyards, and got thoroughly worn out. ...It's nice to be home again!
As usual, i look enthusiastically forward to eating the way i usually do. Most of the trip i was "good" but on three occasions i just shrugged and ate "the bad stuff." I'm fortunate that i don't have a problem with trigger foods; this was my annual pizza binge, and it'll hold me for awhile. ;-) As a matter of fact, shortly before we started our vacation we ordered Dana Carpender's "500 Paleo Recipes" and when i had to turn off the ipad to charge properly (in the car), i opened the cookbook and got out a package of tape-flags and started reading -- OMG, do her recipes look good! Going shopping today to pick up a few ingredients!
It occurs to me that "what we eat" is similar in theory to "what we read." If we choose things to read that are merely amusing or titillating, we finish our books to find ourselves neither more informed nor wiser, but perhaps with implanted notions that affect our thoughts and behaviors with deleterious patterns. For example, "teabag philosophers" dangle plausible ideas that people want to hear and whip up their readers' emotions against innocent hate-targets. Fantasy-fiction (like television) shows us a non-existent cosmos and solves ITS problems in a way that isn't applicable in the real world. Romantic novels allow all kinds of improbable love-related behaviors to become plausible, believable, EXPECTED -- to people who will then suspect that their perfectly normal and decent relationships are deficient somehow. And i won't even MENTION bad self-help books... I tend to consider television/movie watching as a lazy form of reading. Questionable reading leads to poor thinking, choice-making and behaving.
Correspondingly, choosing "wrong" things to eat -- amusing and titillating things -- not only fails to nourish and fuel our bodies adequately, so that we can do what we need to in this world, but can set us up for disease, misery and death. When i look at all the "food porn" on commercial television and facebook, i sometimes think to myself DON'T PEOPLE REALIZE HOW NUTRITIONALLY BEREFT THIS STUFF IS? I see restaurant "healthy choices" like breaded and baked chicken breast meat in the middle of a virtual LOAF of white bread and slathered with a sugary sauce -- can anyone think that this is anything but JUNK? I find over-sugared cocktails, and dessert portions that are not only enough for four people, but excessively sweetened to the point that i can't stand to eat them. I detect "all-beef patties" which are obviously lying because of the state of my teeth when i finish eating them.
No wonder that once those twenty-somethings who used to get trashed on beer, mojitos and cosmos notice they've developed quite a belly when they pass the age of 30 (27 according to Dr Wong, 33 by the observation of Dr Donaldson). No wonder that when these people decide to start families, they often need medical help to conceive. No wonder that the mother's elevated glucose and insulin lead to their children's predisposition to obesity, diabetes and mental/emotional problems -- after all, folic acid is important in pregnancy, and orange juice is a great source of it.... (<-- sarcasm notice)
Reading for pure amusement has its place, just like treat-foods do. The problem arises when the treat occupies a central position in daily life. New low-carbers sometimes fall into this trap -- instead of concentrating on "meat and vegetables" they go searching for lower-carb substitutions of foods that got them in trouble in the first place, and which have minimal capability of digging them out of the hole they're in. In choosing our daily diet, we HAVE to concentrate on getting the (animal) protein we MUST consume along with whatever plant materials our bodies tolerate and our minds/systems "necessitate."
Even though nuts are good food, a little goes a long way and they can actually threaten to take the place of more valuable choices. Pork rinds and bacon, ditto -- it IS possible to overdo some of these things, though some people want to think otherwise. Is our goal to eat as much as we possibly can without gaining, or is it to be healthy and feel good? Although when one comes from a starvation diet of poor nutritional content to LCpaleo, the former seems important, once one gets over the hunger and starts becoming replete, i think the latter goal is the important one.
I'm not trying to take away your almond-flour birthday cake, thanksgiving pumpkin pie, or christmas trifle -- I'm saying that a constant stash of low-carb cookies is a questionable thing. I'm saying that good LC pizza is a nice thing to have in your repertory but not valuable to eat weekly while liver IS. I'm saying that a new Harry Potter movie every year has been fine, but the unending flood of crappy superhero remakes is NOT. I'm saying "pick your poison" on a VERY INfrequent basis.
Writing this reminds me of an obese friend who used to eat things she knew she shouldn't, "just this once" ... every single day.
Showing posts with label "Strong Medicine". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "Strong Medicine". Show all posts
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
back to (ab)normality
The long weekend went by with limited havoc to my body, and once again i restart my "normal" eating patterns with relief and pleasure. I breakfasted at 10 with a big patty of grassfed ground beef and coffee, and will dine probably in the late afternoon with a beautiful thick ribeye steak (no bone, alas). By tomorrow morning, i hope the puffiness in my hands and feet will have disappeared -- i got pretty badly dehydrated one day, and am still feeling the effects of it.
One reason occurs to me why fasting is such an attractive concept to low-carbers and paleoids: you get the "new diet enthusiasm" from time to time in a rather painless fashion! I was envisioning how i would be eating today -- how i USED to eat regularly when actively watching my weight, which was pretty much ever since i was 23.
It was low-calorie, and therefore low-fat, and therefore UNSATISFYING. For about the first three days of any new regimen, one had a great deal of enthusiasm, because the easy weight poured off (literally, down the toilet), and the novelty made it INTERESTING. I'd start every new diet with a great deal of hope -- THIS ONE has got to be the right one! Ah, the endorphins....
About a week in, it's not nearly so interesting anymore, and the "hunger" starts becoming a problem. I say "hunger" rather than HUNGER, because my belly could be full of chicken or fish and vegetables -- LOTS of vegetables -- and yet i'd be pacing around the house trying to stay out of the refrigerator.... Not that there was BUTTER in there, or bacon, or anything my body was nagging me for, but anything that might fill the nutritional void.
I'll actually say what i've thought so many times over the last couple of years -- OMG, if i only knew then what i know now....
But those first three days of a new diet WERE exciting. I read and re-read the philosophical chapters (and recipe sections) of books, and of course they all MADE SENSE ... they just weren't descriptive of how a body actually works. CICO "makes sense" but it isn't that easy to make it "go." Coupled systems and unintended consequences, you know.
Fasting seems to bring back a bit of that old excitement. We know that all kinds of little invisible changes are happening -- our bodies are gobbling up those little useless proteins that are floating around, using glycogen storage, up-regulating enzymes we need for fat-burning, that sort of thing. If we're ketone-adapted already, we don't even feel any particular hunger. On Labor Day, my husband and i cooked and cleaned and shopped, and didn't even notice that we ate nothing that day till early evening.
I've never really felt impelled to do the alternate-day fasting, but eating in a 6-8 hour window comes naturally to me, so long as i'm eating the right foods. This fits in beautifully with the default diet i've adopted, a personalized version of the Strong Medicine regimen. Two to three meals a day, comprising 16-18 oz. of animal-protein foods total, and no plant-source carbs till evening, if then.
Back on my diet today -- ah, what a relief! There's nothing like eating what you really want to.
One reason occurs to me why fasting is such an attractive concept to low-carbers and paleoids: you get the "new diet enthusiasm" from time to time in a rather painless fashion! I was envisioning how i would be eating today -- how i USED to eat regularly when actively watching my weight, which was pretty much ever since i was 23.
It was low-calorie, and therefore low-fat, and therefore UNSATISFYING. For about the first three days of any new regimen, one had a great deal of enthusiasm, because the easy weight poured off (literally, down the toilet), and the novelty made it INTERESTING. I'd start every new diet with a great deal of hope -- THIS ONE has got to be the right one! Ah, the endorphins....
About a week in, it's not nearly so interesting anymore, and the "hunger" starts becoming a problem. I say "hunger" rather than HUNGER, because my belly could be full of chicken or fish and vegetables -- LOTS of vegetables -- and yet i'd be pacing around the house trying to stay out of the refrigerator.... Not that there was BUTTER in there, or bacon, or anything my body was nagging me for, but anything that might fill the nutritional void.
I'll actually say what i've thought so many times over the last couple of years -- OMG, if i only knew then what i know now....
But those first three days of a new diet WERE exciting. I read and re-read the philosophical chapters (and recipe sections) of books, and of course they all MADE SENSE ... they just weren't descriptive of how a body actually works. CICO "makes sense" but it isn't that easy to make it "go." Coupled systems and unintended consequences, you know.
Fasting seems to bring back a bit of that old excitement. We know that all kinds of little invisible changes are happening -- our bodies are gobbling up those little useless proteins that are floating around, using glycogen storage, up-regulating enzymes we need for fat-burning, that sort of thing. If we're ketone-adapted already, we don't even feel any particular hunger. On Labor Day, my husband and i cooked and cleaned and shopped, and didn't even notice that we ate nothing that day till early evening.
I've never really felt impelled to do the alternate-day fasting, but eating in a 6-8 hour window comes naturally to me, so long as i'm eating the right foods. This fits in beautifully with the default diet i've adopted, a personalized version of the Strong Medicine regimen. Two to three meals a day, comprising 16-18 oz. of animal-protein foods total, and no plant-source carbs till evening, if then.
Back on my diet today -- ah, what a relief! There's nothing like eating what you really want to.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Donaldson's 25%
This idea occurred to me several days ago, but i was in the middle of something and i didn't write it down.... Well, i'm reminded of it again now.
A favorite blogger has been on a VLC regime which, though she doesn't really like it, IS effective for weight loss. Unfortunately, the discomfort of it caught up with her and she's had to abandon it -- you HAVE to abandon an eating plan which makes you feel awful, no matter if others thrive on it or what.
When i read in "Strong Medicine" that 75% of Donaldson's patients did very well on his VLC regime, i didn't really spend much time thinking about the ones who did not. He didn't describe them in much detail, but left me with the impression that they just didn't care to comply. I'm rethinking that now.
Suppose they were like our blogging friend, who was doing the program determinedly, but had to give it up because it didn't agree with her physiology? Shall we use as a reasonable assumption that up to 25% of the population CANNOT do VLC, for thoroughly valid reasons? Perhaps their genetic backgrounds are such that they do not make the right enzymes to thrive on a diet providing very few carbohydrates. Perhaps their collections of gut-bugs aren't optimal for the situation. There could be all kinds of reasons, but the upshot is, VLC is just not right for them.
Makes good sense to me: NO single regimen is right for EVERYONE.
A favorite blogger has been on a VLC regime which, though she doesn't really like it, IS effective for weight loss. Unfortunately, the discomfort of it caught up with her and she's had to abandon it -- you HAVE to abandon an eating plan which makes you feel awful, no matter if others thrive on it or what.
When i read in "Strong Medicine" that 75% of Donaldson's patients did very well on his VLC regime, i didn't really spend much time thinking about the ones who did not. He didn't describe them in much detail, but left me with the impression that they just didn't care to comply. I'm rethinking that now.
Suppose they were like our blogging friend, who was doing the program determinedly, but had to give it up because it didn't agree with her physiology? Shall we use as a reasonable assumption that up to 25% of the population CANNOT do VLC, for thoroughly valid reasons? Perhaps their genetic backgrounds are such that they do not make the right enzymes to thrive on a diet providing very few carbohydrates. Perhaps their collections of gut-bugs aren't optimal for the situation. There could be all kinds of reasons, but the upshot is, VLC is just not right for them.
Makes good sense to me: NO single regimen is right for EVERYONE.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
let's all drink to chlorogenic acid!!!
I've been enjoying myself, reading the archives at Low-Carb for You (and learning that Stargazey is still around, despite her long silence). Reading about coffee/caffeine (one of my daily indulgences) was very illuminating. :-)
Now, i was already encouraged in this consumption by Dr. Donaldson -- his strongest weight-loss regimen includes nothing (ingested) save water, fatty meats and coffee, though he has less-stringent prescriptions for those whose problem is less urgent or more allergen-related. I already know enough not to take too much coffee in total or ANY non-decaf too late in the day; the former practice so customizes me to caffeine that i can't get a "jolt" when i need it, and ... well, an old broad like me doesn't tolerate high-octane coffee in the late-afternoon or evening worth a damn.
Since i did the food-elimination exercise in January, too, i've learned to enjoy coffee without additives, and this causes me to put it into the "innocent" (i.e., non-fattening) category. I also like iced coffee, which provides the refreshment of a cold, caffeinated beverage without the baggage that colas (etc) bring with them.
...So i read Stargazey's blog-post, and decided i needed to read up on those other components of coffee which theoretically make it superior to mere supplemental caffeine for weight loss and metabolic health. My affection for Wikipedia was once again supported, through what i read about the coffee-component, chlorogenic acid. An excerpt:
No wonder there's a reverse correlation of coffee-drinking and diabetes, be it ever so small. And that coffee provides the bonne bouche of "encouraging" the bowels (always desirable to a hypothyroid).
So i raise my cup of Sumatra Reserve to chlorogenic acid -- may our association be a long and happy one!
Now, i was already encouraged in this consumption by Dr. Donaldson -- his strongest weight-loss regimen includes nothing (ingested) save water, fatty meats and coffee, though he has less-stringent prescriptions for those whose problem is less urgent or more allergen-related. I already know enough not to take too much coffee in total or ANY non-decaf too late in the day; the former practice so customizes me to caffeine that i can't get a "jolt" when i need it, and ... well, an old broad like me doesn't tolerate high-octane coffee in the late-afternoon or evening worth a damn.
Since i did the food-elimination exercise in January, too, i've learned to enjoy coffee without additives, and this causes me to put it into the "innocent" (i.e., non-fattening) category. I also like iced coffee, which provides the refreshment of a cold, caffeinated beverage without the baggage that colas (etc) bring with them.
...So i read Stargazey's blog-post, and decided i needed to read up on those other components of coffee which theoretically make it superior to mere supplemental caffeine for weight loss and metabolic health. My affection for Wikipedia was once again supported, through what i read about the coffee-component, chlorogenic acid. An excerpt:
Chlorogenic acid has been shown in in vitro studies to inhibit the hydrolysis of the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase in an irreversible fashion. This mechanism allows chlorogenic acid to reduce hepatic glycogenolysis (transformation of glycogen into glucose) and to reduce the absorption of new glucose. In addition, in vivo studies on animal subjects have demonstrated that the administration of chlorogenic acid lessens the hyperglycemic peak resulting from the glycogenolysis brought about by the administering of glucagon, a hyperglycemiant hormone.It could be involved in the laxative effect observed in prunes.
No wonder there's a reverse correlation of coffee-drinking and diabetes, be it ever so small. And that coffee provides the bonne bouche of "encouraging" the bowels (always desirable to a hypothyroid).
So i raise my cup of Sumatra Reserve to chlorogenic acid -- may our association be a long and happy one!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
treating the symptoms of hypothyroidism
I was reading on a website that listed a whole bunch of hypothyroidism symptoms and thought -- not for the first time -- what we have here is really just a bunch of signs of malnutrition!
Weight gain -- FAR from specific to hypothyroidism
Depression -- ditto
Insomnia -- do i have to repeat it?
Swollen legs, feet, hands or abdomen -- okay, i'll change it up...
Constipation -- lack of magnesium and animal fat, ...etc.
Brittle nails -- amazing what fatty meat can do for this...
Rough dry skin -- more of the same
Menstrual irregularities -- back to "unspecific to hypo"
Fatigue -- can everyone say mi-to-chon-dri-al dys-func-tion?
Poor circulation -- [snort] diabetics don't have THIS...
Fluid retention -- and female hormones aren't to blame? nor salt? fooled me
Hoarse, husky voice -- iodine supplementation alone has been known to help this
Elbow or arm keratosis -- funny, i don't have this but my euthyroid husband does
Low or high blood pressure -- aw, c'mon!
Muscle weakness -- not buyin' it
Anxiety, agitation, panic attacks -- carbohydrate-linked, as i can attest
Sparse, coarse or dry hair -- eat some brisket, fergawdsake! :-) really, it's all about iron and dietary fat
Decreased memory -- ...uh ... i forget ... never mind ;-)
Dull facial expression -- now they're confusing hypothyroid with stoopid
Inability to concentrate -- connected with carbohydrates and sleep deprivation ... oh, and iron AGAIN
Yellowing of the palms and skin -- ??? dare i suggest liver problems?
Muscle and joint pain -- if you don't believe THIS is diet-related, you badly need to do a Whole 30
Muscle cramps -- get your minerals!
Drooping eyelids -- ...where do they find these "symptoms" anyway?
Infertility -- ...how do i START listing all the things that contribute to this?
Morning Stiffness -- see what i said about muscle/joint pain ... or read the second paragraph here
Carpel tunnel syndrome -- means INFLAMMATION, that's all; systemic enzymes got rid of that!
Dry and irritated eyes -- yeah, and Paul J attributed that to "glucose deficiency"....
Elevated cholesterol -- okay, gotta be specific about particles; thyroid deficiency DOES limit LDL receptors
Reduced heart rate -- unless there are adrenal complications, when heart rate is fast
Cold intolerance -- unless there are adrenal complications (again), which make for heat intolerance
Slow reflexes -- now, this IS a classic symptom, and i'm not familiar with other etiologies for it
Puffy face -- granted
Cold hands and feet -- yep
Low body temperature -- DEFINITIVE, and you don't need a damned blood test to check it
Slow speech -- i saved this one for last, on purpose. I'm not sure if "they" mean what sometimes happens with me, but from time to time i have a definite "disconnect" between my brain's "language circuits" and my mouth. It's why i always come across better in writing than verbally, when i want to be precise in the way i phrase my thoughts.
Honestly, in making up this list, did some researchers just get a roomful of hypothyroids together and ask them what physical limitations they have? 'Cause that's what it sure sounds like. Really, why try to throw a prescription at a patient ... IF a proper diet can fix what's wrong?
As my long-time readers have heard ad nauseum, i'm terribly fond of the book "Strong Medicine." If you start reading at the last paragraph of this page and go on a couple of pages more, you'll get an interesting perspective on the use of thyroid in the treatment of "symptoms of hypothyroidism."
Weight gain -- FAR from specific to hypothyroidism
Depression -- ditto
Insomnia -- do i have to repeat it?
Swollen legs, feet, hands or abdomen -- okay, i'll change it up...
Constipation -- lack of magnesium and animal fat, ...etc.
Brittle nails -- amazing what fatty meat can do for this...
Rough dry skin -- more of the same
Menstrual irregularities -- back to "unspecific to hypo"
Fatigue -- can everyone say mi-to-chon-dri-al dys-func-tion?
Poor circulation -- [snort] diabetics don't have THIS...
Fluid retention -- and female hormones aren't to blame? nor salt? fooled me
Hoarse, husky voice -- iodine supplementation alone has been known to help this
Elbow or arm keratosis -- funny, i don't have this but my euthyroid husband does
Low or high blood pressure -- aw, c'mon!
Muscle weakness -- not buyin' it
Anxiety, agitation, panic attacks -- carbohydrate-linked, as i can attest
Sparse, coarse or dry hair -- eat some brisket, fergawdsake! :-) really, it's all about iron and dietary fat
Decreased memory -- ...uh ... i forget ... never mind ;-)
Dull facial expression -- now they're confusing hypothyroid with stoopid
Inability to concentrate -- connected with carbohydrates and sleep deprivation ... oh, and iron AGAIN
Yellowing of the palms and skin -- ??? dare i suggest liver problems?
Muscle and joint pain -- if you don't believe THIS is diet-related, you badly need to do a Whole 30
Muscle cramps -- get your minerals!
Drooping eyelids -- ...where do they find these "symptoms" anyway?
Infertility -- ...how do i START listing all the things that contribute to this?
Morning Stiffness -- see what i said about muscle/joint pain ... or read the second paragraph here
Carpel tunnel syndrome -- means INFLAMMATION, that's all; systemic enzymes got rid of that!
Dry and irritated eyes -- yeah, and Paul J attributed that to "glucose deficiency"....
Elevated cholesterol -- okay, gotta be specific about particles; thyroid deficiency DOES limit LDL receptors
Reduced heart rate -- unless there are adrenal complications, when heart rate is fast
Cold intolerance -- unless there are adrenal complications (again), which make for heat intolerance
Slow reflexes -- now, this IS a classic symptom, and i'm not familiar with other etiologies for it
Puffy face -- granted
Cold hands and feet -- yep
Low body temperature -- DEFINITIVE, and you don't need a damned blood test to check it
Slow speech -- i saved this one for last, on purpose. I'm not sure if "they" mean what sometimes happens with me, but from time to time i have a definite "disconnect" between my brain's "language circuits" and my mouth. It's why i always come across better in writing than verbally, when i want to be precise in the way i phrase my thoughts.
Honestly, in making up this list, did some researchers just get a roomful of hypothyroids together and ask them what physical limitations they have? 'Cause that's what it sure sounds like. Really, why try to throw a prescription at a patient ... IF a proper diet can fix what's wrong?
As my long-time readers have heard ad nauseum, i'm terribly fond of the book "Strong Medicine." If you start reading at the last paragraph of this page and go on a couple of pages more, you'll get an interesting perspective on the use of thyroid in the treatment of "symptoms of hypothyroidism."
Friday, July 27, 2012
what is it about plant foods?
This is Day Two of dealing with one of those annoying little upticks of the scale....
On Wednesday, i had to go out into the world, and i thought it was about time for the mini-binge which customarily does good things for me. I lunched at a certain restaurant which offers a very good taco salad, and included some guacamole and sour cream instead of a commercial dressing. I didn't get anything so wicked as a sweet-sour-laden margarita -- oh, no! I had ONE glass of a pleasant, civilized red wine. Next morning, i wasn't surprised that the scale had stagnated, and just hit the half-caf hard, thinking that would run the water out of my body. I finished the take-home box of salad-and-guac; no 'rita, no chips. Supper was a tin of sardines and a glass of wine.
The scale should have been down this morning. It was up. Two days in a row, i had a significant quantity of lettuce, a small amount of other salad vegetables, moderate animal protein and maybe an ounce of cheese (just on Wednesday). I didn't exceed 1350 calories (estimated, since i didn't compile the recipes) the second day, or 1600 the first.
I swear, if i had lettuce in the fridge, i'd do a day of nothing else, and i bet the scale would be up again tomorrow. What is it about plant foods that makes my body misbehave so?
In "Strong Medicine," Donaldson says, "Green vegetables can contain unknown irritants, aside from additive sprays, that bother some of us a great deal. Annoying intestinal gases or joint pains or sudden elevations of blood pressure may all stop when such patients are deprived of green vegetables. I have one family who love asparagus and have a big patch of it to feast on during the season. The whole family run elevated blood pressures at that time." Now, the intestinal gases we can explain very easily, but the other symptoms he mentions are a little more mysterious in their etiology.*
On Wednesday, i had to go out into the world, and i thought it was about time for the mini-binge which customarily does good things for me. I lunched at a certain restaurant which offers a very good taco salad, and included some guacamole and sour cream instead of a commercial dressing. I didn't get anything so wicked as a sweet-sour-laden margarita -- oh, no! I had ONE glass of a pleasant, civilized red wine. Next morning, i wasn't surprised that the scale had stagnated, and just hit the half-caf hard, thinking that would run the water out of my body. I finished the take-home box of salad-and-guac; no 'rita, no chips. Supper was a tin of sardines and a glass of wine.
The scale should have been down this morning. It was up. Two days in a row, i had a significant quantity of lettuce, a small amount of other salad vegetables, moderate animal protein and maybe an ounce of cheese (just on Wednesday). I didn't exceed 1350 calories (estimated, since i didn't compile the recipes) the second day, or 1600 the first.
I swear, if i had lettuce in the fridge, i'd do a day of nothing else, and i bet the scale would be up again tomorrow. What is it about plant foods that makes my body misbehave so?
In "Strong Medicine," Donaldson says, "Green vegetables can contain unknown irritants, aside from additive sprays, that bother some of us a great deal. Annoying intestinal gases or joint pains or sudden elevations of blood pressure may all stop when such patients are deprived of green vegetables. I have one family who love asparagus and have a big patch of it to feast on during the season. The whole family run elevated blood pressures at that time." Now, the intestinal gases we can explain very easily, but the other symptoms he mentions are a little more mysterious in their etiology.*
He goes on to say, "No one knows why the yellow vegetables seem better tolerated by children who have a background of eczema. Onions and beets and celery can sometimes be used with no apparent ill effect, but yellow vegetables always seem to be safer, perhaps because they aren't sprayed." Unfortunately, he doesn't list the items he characterizes as "yellow" but by inference he seems to include carrots, corn, winter squash and turnips. He praises real sweet potatoes and the better varieties of white ones. You'll notice that most of these foodstuffs either grow underground, or have some kind of protective "casing".
Dare i take a leap of intuition and suggest that above-ground plants (green ones) produce more self-protective toxins than edible portions which, being underground, don't need to conduct chemical warfare as much?
Amongst zero-carb enthusiasts, it's postulated that there are enough plant toxins in vegetables to make them poor choices for those of us who are sensitive. In fact, the antioxidant chemicals, ironically labeled "protective," seem to be the ones that irritate us most. Proponents of hormesis say these substances do us good BECAUSE they irritate us; although some people may benefit from it, i'm not sure we all do.
When doing my research on what foods are goitrogenic, a staggering array of "healthy" foods become distinctly deleterious. As a hypothyroid, i should avoid most of the "green leafy" things that every health-fiend from vegan to paleo can agree to ... agree to. ;-) Broccoli, kale, apples -- kiss 'em goodbye! Oh, they're okay if i boil the hell out of them, though....
I believe that plant toxins are a big reason why Atkins and Paleo/Primal only give outstanding results when people come to them from the SAD. Getting the virulent poisons out of your diet only gets you part of the way. The chronic trace poisoning that people love so much is what stands between some of us and real health.
__________
* i have my suspicions.... more on that later.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
progress update conclusion (i think): what WORKS
I'm down another pound this morning, putting me under my "San Francisco starting weight" of three weeks ago. As i don't have to go anywhere for over a month (knock on wood), i COULD actually make my goal weight before summer ends. Here's hoping i won't get any surprises in my life to derail me....
A year ago, i was coming to the conclusion that i might have to reconcile myself to being overweight the rest of my life. I felt i had gotten all the good i could out of low-carbing and paleo/primal eating, and that hormones had finally gotten the better of me; no matter how i reduced intake, it didn't seem to make any difference to my fat load.
This morning, i sat down in my thinking-chair (OKAY, the wing-chair in my bedroom where i like to read and watch movies) KNOWING that what's healthy for me is effective, and vice-versa. It doesn't take super-human willpower to eat a restricted diet, and i can even have a wild splurge every month or so with no ill effects. WOW. This is the definition of empowerment.
I think that the first thing a person like me has to do is BECOME A FAT-BURNER. If you're not fat/ketone-adapted, your body will fight you every step of the way. Hunger and cravings will take over your mind. Now, i was lucky in that i had broken the spell of carbohydrates quite awhile ago (and fully realize how seductively dangerous they are), so my quest was all about learning to control the metabolic flexibility we all need to thrive ... although, i didn't know that when i started.
I've learned that my instinct to wait a considerable time in the morning before eating is the correct one. Kindke blogged about the morning cortisol peak, which gave me a good reason to indulge myself. At home by myself, i have supplements and black coffee for breakfast most of the time. :-) The funny thing is, i've learned to PREFER my coffee black -- never in a million years would i have predicted that! If i have a good reason to eat a meal in the morning, it HAS to be a protein-fat one -- i'm a walking example of a carb-laden breakfast inducing appetite later in the day.
Being fat-adapted, i sometimes have to make myself eat a meal in the middle of the day, because (with the load of "food" i carry around under my skin) i constantly have fuel to burn. But i NEED my protein, so my dinner (my largest meal, whenever it is) is ideally about a half-pound of pastured meat; if it doesn't carry its own lipids along, it gets the addition of butter or real-cream sauce. Depending upon how "good" i'm behaving, black coffee or 4 ounces of wine is the mandatory side-dish. Drinking water or other cold beverages with a meal is a BIG mistake for me -- one thing a hypothyroid needs to make sure of is stomach acid! Coffee and wine unbalance me the least.
Water, i drink at the midpoints between meals. If i feel like a cocktail in the afternoon, but am inclined to deny myself the carbs, i'll make a pot of tea. Jasmine or Earl Grey make for the perfect stress-buster, in lieu of a Gimlet! The important thing is to make it in a pot and pour it in a cup (not a mug), and not work at anything while drinking it. It makes you slow down. Speaking of tea -- should i not be in the mood for coffee with food, i find lapsang souchong is about the only tea that isn't overpowered by a meaty meal.
I make sure to have something to eat before it gets too late; i never really like to start a meal after 8. If i'm allowing myself any carby food at all, this is when it's acceptable. Supper can be like dinner if i really feel an appetite, or it can be a tin of sardines, glass of raw-milk kefir, home-made gelatin, or even my own ice-cream if i'm not particularly hungry.
Sleep is immensely important to me. Even though some experts get really hot about the legitimacy of "adrenal fatigue," i've found that treating it like it's real has improved my health considerably. Stress creates a whole cascade of horrible effects on anyone with a weak thyroid, so by doing my best to pamper my adrenals, i save myself a world of discomfort. I've installed F-lux on my old not-quite-dead laptop as well as on the one i'm using now, AND my husband's. I darken my bedroom to the best of my ability, and cover the blue light of my cellphone. The goal is my ideal of eight to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep, but if i wake during the night, i no longer stress about it; with the knowledge of biphasic sleep i've gained, i just read something soothing for an hour or so.
Sounds so simple.... But like my supplement routine, it took a lot of trial and error and PAYING ATTENTION to my body to come down to it. It took input from knowledgeable sources of all kinds, many of whom write the blogs on the list on this page. It took reassurance by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Dr. Donaldson and Lucas Tafur that i wasn't ruining myself with the "extreme" diet i thrive on. It took the notions put forth by eccentric doctors whose central points are sound, despite the lengths to which they push them. Hell, i want to thank the WORLD for the help i've gotten in managing this tricky body of mine!
A year ago, i was coming to the conclusion that i might have to reconcile myself to being overweight the rest of my life. I felt i had gotten all the good i could out of low-carbing and paleo/primal eating, and that hormones had finally gotten the better of me; no matter how i reduced intake, it didn't seem to make any difference to my fat load.
This morning, i sat down in my thinking-chair (OKAY, the wing-chair in my bedroom where i like to read and watch movies) KNOWING that what's healthy for me is effective, and vice-versa. It doesn't take super-human willpower to eat a restricted diet, and i can even have a wild splurge every month or so with no ill effects. WOW. This is the definition of empowerment.
I think that the first thing a person like me has to do is BECOME A FAT-BURNER. If you're not fat/ketone-adapted, your body will fight you every step of the way. Hunger and cravings will take over your mind. Now, i was lucky in that i had broken the spell of carbohydrates quite awhile ago (and fully realize how seductively dangerous they are), so my quest was all about learning to control the metabolic flexibility we all need to thrive ... although, i didn't know that when i started.
I've learned that my instinct to wait a considerable time in the morning before eating is the correct one. Kindke blogged about the morning cortisol peak, which gave me a good reason to indulge myself. At home by myself, i have supplements and black coffee for breakfast most of the time. :-) The funny thing is, i've learned to PREFER my coffee black -- never in a million years would i have predicted that! If i have a good reason to eat a meal in the morning, it HAS to be a protein-fat one -- i'm a walking example of a carb-laden breakfast inducing appetite later in the day.
Being fat-adapted, i sometimes have to make myself eat a meal in the middle of the day, because (with the load of "food" i carry around under my skin) i constantly have fuel to burn. But i NEED my protein, so my dinner (my largest meal, whenever it is) is ideally about a half-pound of pastured meat; if it doesn't carry its own lipids along, it gets the addition of butter or real-cream sauce. Depending upon how "good" i'm behaving, black coffee or 4 ounces of wine is the mandatory side-dish. Drinking water or other cold beverages with a meal is a BIG mistake for me -- one thing a hypothyroid needs to make sure of is stomach acid! Coffee and wine unbalance me the least.
Water, i drink at the midpoints between meals. If i feel like a cocktail in the afternoon, but am inclined to deny myself the carbs, i'll make a pot of tea. Jasmine or Earl Grey make for the perfect stress-buster, in lieu of a Gimlet! The important thing is to make it in a pot and pour it in a cup (not a mug), and not work at anything while drinking it. It makes you slow down. Speaking of tea -- should i not be in the mood for coffee with food, i find lapsang souchong is about the only tea that isn't overpowered by a meaty meal.
I make sure to have something to eat before it gets too late; i never really like to start a meal after 8. If i'm allowing myself any carby food at all, this is when it's acceptable. Supper can be like dinner if i really feel an appetite, or it can be a tin of sardines, glass of raw-milk kefir, home-made gelatin, or even my own ice-cream if i'm not particularly hungry.
Sleep is immensely important to me. Even though some experts get really hot about the legitimacy of "adrenal fatigue," i've found that treating it like it's real has improved my health considerably. Stress creates a whole cascade of horrible effects on anyone with a weak thyroid, so by doing my best to pamper my adrenals, i save myself a world of discomfort. I've installed F-lux on my old not-quite-dead laptop as well as on the one i'm using now, AND my husband's. I darken my bedroom to the best of my ability, and cover the blue light of my cellphone. The goal is my ideal of eight to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep, but if i wake during the night, i no longer stress about it; with the knowledge of biphasic sleep i've gained, i just read something soothing for an hour or so.
Sounds so simple.... But like my supplement routine, it took a lot of trial and error and PAYING ATTENTION to my body to come down to it. It took input from knowledgeable sources of all kinds, many of whom write the blogs on the list on this page. It took reassurance by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Dr. Donaldson and Lucas Tafur that i wasn't ruining myself with the "extreme" diet i thrive on. It took the notions put forth by eccentric doctors whose central points are sound, despite the lengths to which they push them. Hell, i want to thank the WORLD for the help i've gotten in managing this tricky body of mine!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
progress report, part 2: eating out is the DEVIL
I can't even wait a day before continuing, because looking back on all i've learned is so exciting and encouraging to me. Looking back is an excellent Mercury-retrograde activity.... ;-)
Since the beginning of the year, when i've been at home and doing the cooking i haven't failed to lose weight, and when i've been eating out a lot, i haven't failed to gain. It's that simple. Because i know what the pitfalls are, i haven't gained MUCH, and i haven't failed to lose it again, but it just goes to show you what happens when other people are in charge of the kitchen.
Other people's condiments are full of industrial-seed oil, sugar, texture- and flavor-enhancers (like carrageenan, guar gum, MSG, etc), preservatives (which may or may not be a problem), artificial colors (which sensitive people find problematic), and so on. Other people don't properly nixtamalize corn, ferment grains and legumes, soak nuts and seeds -- in other words, they take shortcuts that ruin potentially-nourishing substances. Other people believe advertising propaganda, and think grain-fiber is a good thing, and that metabolic poisons are "a good part of this balanced diet." Other people don't realize that anti-meat "information" is frequently from veg*an sources.
Yes, you can eat out. You can eat out a McDonald's, for heaven's sake, and not ruin your health. What you CAN'T do is make any assumptions about what you're getting. The "best" Italian restaurants are known to use artificial "olive oil." Almost any restaurant steak is going to be seasoned with things you really don't want to consume. The first thing i look for in an omelette is, whether the egg is homogenous or streaky with white and yolk -- if you have doubts, it's best to order the eggs fried rather than scrambled, because GOK what might be in there.
So, when i was in Texas in Jan/Feb and again in May/June, when i was in San Francisco a week in each the spring and summer, and when i had houseguests for a week in April, i did a LO-O-O-O-O-OT of eating out, and it totally screwed my weight goals. Most of the time, i tried to eat according to what i know is best for me, but on about a half-dozen occasions (single meals, that is) i completely FEASTED. The thing i've learned from feasting is, though, to FAST afterward, for a meal or a day. When i'd get home again each time, especially when my husband was still out-of-town, i'd get right back on my VLC diet and/or the Strong Medicine protocol, and i'd be back to normal within days. I've gained and lost the same five pounds, four or five times, but i'm about eight pounds down from the first of the year. Twelve to go.
And rather than thinking it a privation to go back on my "diet," i resume my eating pattern with RELIEF. I just don't feel good when i'm eating like other people do. When i eat my 100 grams each of animal protein and fat per day, i don't feel hungry and food-obsessed, and my brain works, and i hurt less, and i'm HAPPY. I don't like to snack anymore, even though the thought of cocktails and antipasti STILL has allure. I still enjoy some junkfood, but i know it comes with a price i don't like to pay.
I have a lot of sympathy for people who haven't found the "formula" that works to tame their appetites and control their intake for maximal comfort. Until i tweaked the Strong Medicine and my supplement list to "fit" me, i did a LOT more thinking about food with longing!* Now i tell myself, "You're perfectly satisfied, and you feel great on these foods -- you're losing weight with no hunger. Don't even think about luscious foods you're not allowing yourself RIGHT NOW -- you'll have them later. Meanwhile, make progress while there are no distractions!" And i AM! :-D
________
* I also did a lot more planning, shopping and cooking; a lot more SPENDING of money and time. I love the change.
Since the beginning of the year, when i've been at home and doing the cooking i haven't failed to lose weight, and when i've been eating out a lot, i haven't failed to gain. It's that simple. Because i know what the pitfalls are, i haven't gained MUCH, and i haven't failed to lose it again, but it just goes to show you what happens when other people are in charge of the kitchen.
Other people's condiments are full of industrial-seed oil, sugar, texture- and flavor-enhancers (like carrageenan, guar gum, MSG, etc), preservatives (which may or may not be a problem), artificial colors (which sensitive people find problematic), and so on. Other people don't properly nixtamalize corn, ferment grains and legumes, soak nuts and seeds -- in other words, they take shortcuts that ruin potentially-nourishing substances. Other people believe advertising propaganda, and think grain-fiber is a good thing, and that metabolic poisons are "a good part of this balanced diet." Other people don't realize that anti-meat "information" is frequently from veg*an sources.
Yes, you can eat out. You can eat out a McDonald's, for heaven's sake, and not ruin your health. What you CAN'T do is make any assumptions about what you're getting. The "best" Italian restaurants are known to use artificial "olive oil." Almost any restaurant steak is going to be seasoned with things you really don't want to consume. The first thing i look for in an omelette is, whether the egg is homogenous or streaky with white and yolk -- if you have doubts, it's best to order the eggs fried rather than scrambled, because GOK what might be in there.
So, when i was in Texas in Jan/Feb and again in May/June, when i was in San Francisco a week in each the spring and summer, and when i had houseguests for a week in April, i did a LO-O-O-O-O-OT of eating out, and it totally screwed my weight goals. Most of the time, i tried to eat according to what i know is best for me, but on about a half-dozen occasions (single meals, that is) i completely FEASTED. The thing i've learned from feasting is, though, to FAST afterward, for a meal or a day. When i'd get home again each time, especially when my husband was still out-of-town, i'd get right back on my VLC diet and/or the Strong Medicine protocol, and i'd be back to normal within days. I've gained and lost the same five pounds, four or five times, but i'm about eight pounds down from the first of the year. Twelve to go.
And rather than thinking it a privation to go back on my "diet," i resume my eating pattern with RELIEF. I just don't feel good when i'm eating like other people do. When i eat my 100 grams each of animal protein and fat per day, i don't feel hungry and food-obsessed, and my brain works, and i hurt less, and i'm HAPPY. I don't like to snack anymore, even though the thought of cocktails and antipasti STILL has allure. I still enjoy some junkfood, but i know it comes with a price i don't like to pay.
I have a lot of sympathy for people who haven't found the "formula" that works to tame their appetites and control their intake for maximal comfort. Until i tweaked the Strong Medicine and my supplement list to "fit" me, i did a LOT more thinking about food with longing!* Now i tell myself, "You're perfectly satisfied, and you feel great on these foods -- you're losing weight with no hunger. Don't even think about luscious foods you're not allowing yourself RIGHT NOW -- you'll have them later. Meanwhile, make progress while there are no distractions!" And i AM! :-D
________
* I also did a lot more planning, shopping and cooking; a lot more SPENDING of money and time. I love the change.
progress update time, part 1
More than half a year has flown by, since i started writing here. Whereas i haven't made much linear PROGRESS in losing weight, the scale hasn't been stuck anywhere ... and i feel i'm significantly wiser about the whole subject.
In January, i began the Personal Paleo Code program, which was an eye-opening experience. Whether a person wants to lose weight or not -- i firmly believe it's in EVERYBODY'S best interests to go through a strict elimination diet and slowly add back every other ordinarily-eaten food, just to see what causes problems that were never even SUSPECTED before. I understand the Whole 30 is pretty much the same thing, and there are others out there, too, which offer a description and how to go about it without spoiling the results ... but i really think people who care about their health need to check it out.
I discovered that i have issues with nightshades, which i never suspected before. Industrial seed oils seem to give me zits, especially when i'm not getting enough zinc. Milk products (even fermented) seem to contribute to tremors (like any overdose of carbs) -- could high insulin the be the cause? Cream SOMETIMES contributes to an unhappy gut, but butter, never -- could have something to do with carrageenan in the former....
Wheat doesn't give me overt gut symptoms, but it really brings on the knee pain ...AND hip, and shoulder. Oats (even soaked) do the same, to a lesser degree. An occasional (rare!) bowl of porridge will stay in my future, but it's gotta be the unsteamed kind, and it has to be soaked overnight with whey. I allowed myself so little of the true-sourdough ("salt rising") rye/rice bread, i don't know if it causes much trouble -- further tests are in order.
Home-cooked food (by me) is the highroad to health and weight control. I've eliminated dozens of products i used to use with confidence because SO many of the things we buy are adulterated -- you have to be careful even buying tuna in "water" because it ISN'T -- it's a soy-laced broth. "With olive oil" in the commercial world doesn't mean OF olive oil; i make my own mayo and dressings anymore. The caveat above, "by me" is important -- my husband is sympathetic but not thoroughly aware. And as for other people? Absolutely, completely, incomprehensibly BLIND. Obviously, most people think that if it doesn't kill you SOON, it doesn't have a negative impact on health (face-palm...). Think CIGARETTES, kids....
I've learned a bit about alcohol, too. The "cleanest" drink i can have is warm sake; a small amount satisfies and it's easy to stop there. Even cold (filtered) sake is more ... moreish! And other things also contribute to a low-grade headache while sake doesn't. My low-carb cocktails come next, then tepid wine -- which is to say, reds. White and/or chilled, and the "food reward" thing kicks in -- wonder if the "good doctor" can explain that one?
A very nice lady who went by the screenname "H" made the next big impact on my dietary adventures; she introduced me to "Strong Medicine," Dr. Blake Donaldson's retrospective on how he learned to treat allergy and weight loss, in the early part of the 20th century. This book, and my subsequent reading, have revolutionized my view of limiting carbs. H did her good deed, then kinda disappeared like The Shadow. OOOOhhhh. ;-)
This, as the title suggests, is going to have to be just the first report, because i realized after i started that the ground i've covered so far this year is going to take longer than i thought. ;-) I do hope this isn't just an exercise in self-absorption, but a useful record....
In January, i began the Personal Paleo Code program, which was an eye-opening experience. Whether a person wants to lose weight or not -- i firmly believe it's in EVERYBODY'S best interests to go through a strict elimination diet and slowly add back every other ordinarily-eaten food, just to see what causes problems that were never even SUSPECTED before. I understand the Whole 30 is pretty much the same thing, and there are others out there, too, which offer a description and how to go about it without spoiling the results ... but i really think people who care about their health need to check it out.
I discovered that i have issues with nightshades, which i never suspected before. Industrial seed oils seem to give me zits, especially when i'm not getting enough zinc. Milk products (even fermented) seem to contribute to tremors (like any overdose of carbs) -- could high insulin the be the cause? Cream SOMETIMES contributes to an unhappy gut, but butter, never -- could have something to do with carrageenan in the former....
Wheat doesn't give me overt gut symptoms, but it really brings on the knee pain ...AND hip, and shoulder. Oats (even soaked) do the same, to a lesser degree. An occasional (rare!) bowl of porridge will stay in my future, but it's gotta be the unsteamed kind, and it has to be soaked overnight with whey. I allowed myself so little of the true-sourdough ("salt rising") rye/rice bread, i don't know if it causes much trouble -- further tests are in order.
Home-cooked food (by me) is the highroad to health and weight control. I've eliminated dozens of products i used to use with confidence because SO many of the things we buy are adulterated -- you have to be careful even buying tuna in "water" because it ISN'T -- it's a soy-laced broth. "With olive oil" in the commercial world doesn't mean OF olive oil; i make my own mayo and dressings anymore. The caveat above, "by me" is important -- my husband is sympathetic but not thoroughly aware. And as for other people? Absolutely, completely, incomprehensibly BLIND. Obviously, most people think that if it doesn't kill you SOON, it doesn't have a negative impact on health (face-palm...). Think CIGARETTES, kids....
I've learned a bit about alcohol, too. The "cleanest" drink i can have is warm sake; a small amount satisfies and it's easy to stop there. Even cold (filtered) sake is more ... moreish! And other things also contribute to a low-grade headache while sake doesn't. My low-carb cocktails come next, then tepid wine -- which is to say, reds. White and/or chilled, and the "food reward" thing kicks in -- wonder if the "good doctor" can explain that one?
A very nice lady who went by the screenname "H" made the next big impact on my dietary adventures; she introduced me to "Strong Medicine," Dr. Blake Donaldson's retrospective on how he learned to treat allergy and weight loss, in the early part of the 20th century. This book, and my subsequent reading, have revolutionized my view of limiting carbs. H did her good deed, then kinda disappeared like The Shadow. OOOOhhhh. ;-)
This, as the title suggests, is going to have to be just the first report, because i realized after i started that the ground i've covered so far this year is going to take longer than i thought. ;-) I do hope this isn't just an exercise in self-absorption, but a useful record....
Sunday, July 15, 2012
yet another new beginning
All my socializing and gadding about seems to be over for awhile, so i start being perfect again tomorrow. I know, i know -- i meant to do this exact thing last week, but it was easier said than done. It's awfully hard to eat simply when someone else's tastes and appetites are to be considered too. Also, my husband likes to cook, and it's darned difficult not to eat what he prepares -- you can imagine....
I started being more disciplined today (yesterday we were the guests of some friends, and i was pretty wicked). We had bacon, scrambled duck eggs*, buttered paleo toast and coffee for brunch, and after i returned from taking him to the airport, i had my beef and decaf for dinner, then had the last glass of red wine in the carafe -- waste not, want not! Tomorrow it's back on the Strong Medicine regimen, because it controls hunger better than any means i know -- and having been corrupted with too many carbs over the past day or two, i BADLY need to get hunger back under control. Right now, i've got a pretty bad case of the munchies ... which i will NOT yield to!
Tomorrow it's to be all meat and coffee, and i have a treat lined up -- a pastured pork roast that should last me at least four meals. YUMMMMM! I can see the scales readings going down already!
_____
* it surprises me that duck eggs haven't become the new magical food in the paleo world -- they're marvelous things, containing more nutrients than chicken eggs ounce for ounce, and more yummy fat, too!
I started being more disciplined today (yesterday we were the guests of some friends, and i was pretty wicked). We had bacon, scrambled duck eggs*, buttered paleo toast and coffee for brunch, and after i returned from taking him to the airport, i had my beef and decaf for dinner, then had the last glass of red wine in the carafe -- waste not, want not! Tomorrow it's back on the Strong Medicine regimen, because it controls hunger better than any means i know -- and having been corrupted with too many carbs over the past day or two, i BADLY need to get hunger back under control. Right now, i've got a pretty bad case of the munchies ... which i will NOT yield to!
Tomorrow it's to be all meat and coffee, and i have a treat lined up -- a pastured pork roast that should last me at least four meals. YUMMMMM! I can see the scales readings going down already!
_____
* it surprises me that duck eggs haven't become the new magical food in the paleo world -- they're marvelous things, containing more nutrients than chicken eggs ounce for ounce, and more yummy fat, too!
Monday, July 9, 2012
thyroids and diets
The Wheat Belly blog is talking about thyroid issues as associated with weight loss today. I tried to reply to one of the ladies' comments, but the spam-inhibiting system over there is really funky and i gave up. However, this subject is important to me, so i can't resist saying a word or two.
Not being in the medical community myself, i'm not hindered by my ortho-education. Whatever they ARE taught is obviously all about drugs or surgery. High TSH with low T, and they medicate; high T and they 'ectomize. Like a lot of allopathic medicine, i think it's lousy and half-assed.
When the "shortage" of natural thyroid happened a couple of years ago, i got mad (with "upset" as an intermediate step). There were no fewer pigs, sheep and cattle than there were before, so it's a "feckin lie" that there was a shortage -- Armour simply wanted to change their formulation, and they were hand-in-glove with the bloody idiots who think that Synthroid is just the same as natural. It's distinctly possible that some entity bought up supplies and dumped them out of the country or in the ocean, too. Some people sneer every time they hear a hint of what they consider conspiracy theory, but there wouldn't be a name for it if it didn't exist. I FIRMLY believe in conspiracies when it comes to parting fools and their money.
At that point, i did what any good internet-lover would do -- MY HOMEWORK. Since then, i've learned a hell of a lot. The way MY situation turned out, i take a generous handful of supplements and no prescription drugs -- though there are those who really ought to take both.
One of the most telling things i learned comes from my much-referenced source, "Strong Medicine." Gettaloada THIS:
Short answer: overweight people have messed-up metabolisms. Something "different" is happening within the obese population Donaldson describes -- their bodies are not behaving normally in the presence of a metabolic stimulant. Something in the thyroid-hormone domain has gone haywire, just as their energy-mobilizing/utilizing domain is also awry. Thinking this through simplistically: either the patient is getting T4 only and it's not getting converted to active T3, or there is so much rT3 in the system it's blocking the receptors of T3 so the latter is not getting utilized. Then there are the adrenal complications which are only now gaining a degree of credence....
This is where the nutritional tweaker gets to be creative. What nutrients are needed to make T4? T3? What competes with those? What inhibiting factors hinder creation, conversion and usage? What can we do to optimize every step of the way?
This is also where being a passive patient, popping pills instead of making lifestyle changes, will never make you feel your best. If you're not getting enough sleep, you can take all the Synthroid your sources will allow and you'll be wasting it all down the rT3 slippy-slope. It's like the diabetic woman who thought she could eat danish and take her insulin and everything would be all right -- no!
NO! One has to make efforts to eat an appropriate diet, get appropriate exercise, and take appropriate supplements for anything one may not absorb, convert or synthesize adequately. The hypothyroid body has distinct limitations on what it can absorb, convert and synthesize -- that's why i take so damn MANY supplements, why i take some together, some on an empty stomach, etc. You have to do your own researching and testing. Nobody else has your exact physiological situation. Hop to it.
_____
* Donaldson says a lot more about the subject, and i encourage readers to look at it themselves here.
Not being in the medical community myself, i'm not hindered by my ortho-education. Whatever they ARE taught is obviously all about drugs or surgery. High TSH with low T, and they medicate; high T and they 'ectomize. Like a lot of allopathic medicine, i think it's lousy and half-assed.
When the "shortage" of natural thyroid happened a couple of years ago, i got mad (with "upset" as an intermediate step). There were no fewer pigs, sheep and cattle than there were before, so it's a "feckin lie" that there was a shortage -- Armour simply wanted to change their formulation, and they were hand-in-glove with the bloody idiots who think that Synthroid is just the same as natural. It's distinctly possible that some entity bought up supplies and dumped them out of the country or in the ocean, too. Some people sneer every time they hear a hint of what they consider conspiracy theory, but there wouldn't be a name for it if it didn't exist. I FIRMLY believe in conspiracies when it comes to parting fools and their money.
At that point, i did what any good internet-lover would do -- MY HOMEWORK. Since then, i've learned a hell of a lot. The way MY situation turned out, i take a generous handful of supplements and no prescription drugs -- though there are those who really ought to take both.
One of the most telling things i learned comes from my much-referenced source, "Strong Medicine." Gettaloada THIS:
Didn't work in simple obesity? This was very interesting to me, on account o' because, "logic" dictates that increasing metabolism burns more calories, and increasing thyroid increases metabolism so WHY DOES EXTRA THYROID HORMONE NOT CAUSE WEIGHT LOSS across the board?"At times thyroid extract can increase the cooking flame in the body, just as new sparkplugs may increase the efficiency of an automobile engine. It used to be thought that feeding it in small quantities might help to burn off excess body weight. With the exception of about four per cent, that happened regularly to people with the disease called exophthalmic goiter. They would usually melt away under the load of too much thyroid hormone in the blood. But it didn't work in simple obesity. Because so many thousands of fat people still uselessly take thyroid extract to lose weight, the subject needs to be more generally understood."*
Short answer: overweight people have messed-up metabolisms. Something "different" is happening within the obese population Donaldson describes -- their bodies are not behaving normally in the presence of a metabolic stimulant. Something in the thyroid-hormone domain has gone haywire, just as their energy-mobilizing/utilizing domain is also awry. Thinking this through simplistically: either the patient is getting T4 only and it's not getting converted to active T3, or there is so much rT3 in the system it's blocking the receptors of T3 so the latter is not getting utilized. Then there are the adrenal complications which are only now gaining a degree of credence....
This is where the nutritional tweaker gets to be creative. What nutrients are needed to make T4? T3? What competes with those? What inhibiting factors hinder creation, conversion and usage? What can we do to optimize every step of the way?
This is also where being a passive patient, popping pills instead of making lifestyle changes, will never make you feel your best. If you're not getting enough sleep, you can take all the Synthroid your sources will allow and you'll be wasting it all down the rT3 slippy-slope. It's like the diabetic woman who thought she could eat danish and take her insulin and everything would be all right -- no!
NO! One has to make efforts to eat an appropriate diet, get appropriate exercise, and take appropriate supplements for anything one may not absorb, convert or synthesize adequately. The hypothyroid body has distinct limitations on what it can absorb, convert and synthesize -- that's why i take so damn MANY supplements, why i take some together, some on an empty stomach, etc. You have to do your own researching and testing. Nobody else has your exact physiological situation. Hop to it.
_____
* Donaldson says a lot more about the subject, and i encourage readers to look at it themselves here.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
off-the-beaten-track, but interesting....
I'm definitely a re-reader and re-watcher. If a book is worth reading at all, it's worth reading again; ditto for movies. Some films/stories i even enjoy more for their "atmosphere" than for plot or artistic value. Some semi-fiction is also good for its historical information, helpful to me as a reenactor.
One of the lighter things i read every couple of years is the old Little House series, and the interesting bit is, i usually glean a little more with every reading, even after all this time. I identify songs, places, processes/activities, foodstuffs, ... all kinds of things that aid me in improving my interpretations of history. I get confirmations or refutations for anecdotes of the eras i read, for my characters/impressions. With retrospective "biographies" of course, one does have to take some things with a grain of salt.
The internet gives me more information, too. Thanks to historians whose work is available at places like Wikipedia, i know in what areas Mrs. Wilder fictionalized her autobiographical material to make it more "eventful." I know what happened to the family after her stories leave them behind, as well.
Anyone who has ever read this series (ignore the television BS -- they got EVERYTHING wrong in that) is familiar with the hard times the family went through from time to time -- the periods when they were between long-term homes, living rough on the frontier, dealing with harsh natural environments in which they could not always count on a significant harvest to feed themselves adequately. Their diet was often of the most minimal quantity and quality -- cheap carbohydrate foods, lean game, that sort of thing.
So -- what a surprise -- I find out that Pa Ingalls died of heart disease at the age of 66. (Ma, i don't know, but she was 84.) Mary died of pneumonia after a stroke. Laura, Carrie and Grace died of complications of diabetes.
Even in the best of times, this family ate a high carbohydrate diet -- is it significant that the carbs were mostly "complex"? Apparently not.
The eldest child, though she lost her sight as a result of a dangerous fever when she was about 12 or 13, seems to have been the hardiest of the family. In light of Dr. Cate Shanahan's hypothesis of "Second Sibling Syndrome" this is not at all surprising. "...Unless the mother gives herself ample time and nutrients for her body to fully replenish itself, child number two will not be as healthy as his older sibling. And so, while big brother goes off to football practice, or big sister gets a modeling job, the second sibling will be spending time in the offices of the local optometrists and orthodontists. It’s not that they got the “unlucky” genes. The problem is that, compared to their older sibling, they grew in a relatively undernourished environment in utero." (From "Deep Nutrition.")
Laura Ingalls' life, where she begins her story, is surrounded by the "forest primeval" where wildlife is abundant and the farm is apparently productive. Meat is procured at the height of succulence -- in the autumn, when the deer, bear, and acorn-fattened pork is at its ... fattiest. The climate allowed natural freezing of fresh meats, so only part of the meat-harvest is processed. However, what WAS processed was done so in a natural and healthy way, with salt and smoke, not questionable modern chemicals. Theoretically, her sister Mary (only a year older), had one more year's worth of wholesome diet than she, as well as superior maternal nutrition, before the family began subsisting on cornmeal and lean game. Dare we assume that this is what "helped" Mary to die of what Dr. Donaldson (in "Strong Medicine") described as the most common cause of death in the elderly of his day, pneumonia?
Laura describes her next-younger sister, Carrie, as always having been "delicate" -- a synonym for "unhealthy" in this euphemistic era. She further speaks of her as having not recovered from the Hard Winter (more on that later) very well. Unhealthy indeed. The youngest (surviving) sibling, Grace (we are told) had never known any meat except salt pork (and a little game) until she was three or four years old.
From her sixth year till her eighth or ninth at least, Laura ate mostly carbohydrate foods, lean game and some salt pork. Again, between her 12th and 15th year, it seems the family's diet was similar. Lots of potatoes and cornmeal, wheat, lots of beans, some fish, and latterly wild waterfowl, which is significantly leaner than the farmed ducks and geese of today. What they ate while in Minnesota (between her third and fourth books) we don't know in detail; they had a farm with kitchen-garden, chickens and cow, but we don't know if they had pigs, or if they actually ate beef. All she tells us of this period is, they had only two poor wheat crops, and most of the family was stricken with scarlet fever.
The worst nutritional debacle of which we read is in "The Hard Winter." Their second winter in Dakota Territory, after the first minimal harvest from the raw prairie, was an extremely harsh one, and the new railroad line was incapable of negotiating the heavy snows that year. The small, isolated town was insufficiently stocked with food and fuel in this frontier area; there was almost no naturally-occurring fuel on the bare prairies, and farming equipment of the time was incapable of pulverizing the tough sod, so that the virgin soil could not yield as had the rich eastern land to which emigrants were accustomed. It seems to me that they were damned lucky to have survived at all.
Assuming that Mrs. Wilder wasn't taking too many liberties with history, we are to understand that the family ran out of meat by Christmas, and subsisted largely on whole wheat and some beans and potatoes between the first of the year and April, when the blizzards ended and supplies became available again. The beans would have been properly soaked before cooking, and we know that the wheat's leavening was produced from an honest-to-god sourdough fermentation ... but we are also told that the whole family is weakened and dumbed-down by their nutritional deficiencies. Her father, meanwhile, does occasional heavy labor.
After this period of nutritional want, though, the family goes back to eating an adequate (even generous) diet, but it is still very carb-heavy. Their celebratory meal in the spring when the "Christmas barrel" arrives (still frozen hard) containing a turkey and cranberries, also includes potatoes, gravy and light bread (made with white flour and yeast), stuffing, pies and a cake. When their garden begins growing and the cow "freshens" they have greens, butter and milk, but it will be months before they have much more than the general store can provide -- white flour, salt pork, cornmeal, potatoes and beans....
Sweets, at least, were a rare treat. We're told that in Laura's earliest years, maple syrup and sugar are annually produced, but not frequently consumed except in tea, on pancakes and mush. Finding a honey-tree was a truly rare and memorable occurrence. Candy was something special, only to be expected as a Christmas gift. Brown-sugar syrup was probably a semi-regular addition to pancakes, though, and when there was fruit harvested (mostly wild) it was dried or preserved with added sugar, depending upon the family's circumstances. Notably in this era, tomatoes were a fruit one expected to eat sweetened.
The final harvest of all this nutritional imbalance we already know: heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The latter condition, Wikipedia tells us, "ran in the family." I wonder if it was running in the family while they were still eating autumn-fat deer, bear, fresh pastured pork, whole dairy and eggs?
One of the lighter things i read every couple of years is the old Little House series, and the interesting bit is, i usually glean a little more with every reading, even after all this time. I identify songs, places, processes/activities, foodstuffs, ... all kinds of things that aid me in improving my interpretations of history. I get confirmations or refutations for anecdotes of the eras i read, for my characters/impressions. With retrospective "biographies" of course, one does have to take some things with a grain of salt.
The internet gives me more information, too. Thanks to historians whose work is available at places like Wikipedia, i know in what areas Mrs. Wilder fictionalized her autobiographical material to make it more "eventful." I know what happened to the family after her stories leave them behind, as well.
Anyone who has ever read this series (ignore the television BS -- they got EVERYTHING wrong in that) is familiar with the hard times the family went through from time to time -- the periods when they were between long-term homes, living rough on the frontier, dealing with harsh natural environments in which they could not always count on a significant harvest to feed themselves adequately. Their diet was often of the most minimal quantity and quality -- cheap carbohydrate foods, lean game, that sort of thing.
So -- what a surprise -- I find out that Pa Ingalls died of heart disease at the age of 66. (Ma, i don't know, but she was 84.) Mary died of pneumonia after a stroke. Laura, Carrie and Grace died of complications of diabetes.
Even in the best of times, this family ate a high carbohydrate diet -- is it significant that the carbs were mostly "complex"? Apparently not.
The eldest child, though she lost her sight as a result of a dangerous fever when she was about 12 or 13, seems to have been the hardiest of the family. In light of Dr. Cate Shanahan's hypothesis of "Second Sibling Syndrome" this is not at all surprising. "...Unless the mother gives herself ample time and nutrients for her body to fully replenish itself, child number two will not be as healthy as his older sibling. And so, while big brother goes off to football practice, or big sister gets a modeling job, the second sibling will be spending time in the offices of the local optometrists and orthodontists. It’s not that they got the “unlucky” genes. The problem is that, compared to their older sibling, they grew in a relatively undernourished environment in utero." (From "Deep Nutrition.")
Laura Ingalls' life, where she begins her story, is surrounded by the "forest primeval" where wildlife is abundant and the farm is apparently productive. Meat is procured at the height of succulence -- in the autumn, when the deer, bear, and acorn-fattened pork is at its ... fattiest. The climate allowed natural freezing of fresh meats, so only part of the meat-harvest is processed. However, what WAS processed was done so in a natural and healthy way, with salt and smoke, not questionable modern chemicals. Theoretically, her sister Mary (only a year older), had one more year's worth of wholesome diet than she, as well as superior maternal nutrition, before the family began subsisting on cornmeal and lean game. Dare we assume that this is what "helped" Mary to die of what Dr. Donaldson (in "Strong Medicine") described as the most common cause of death in the elderly of his day, pneumonia?
Laura describes her next-younger sister, Carrie, as always having been "delicate" -- a synonym for "unhealthy" in this euphemistic era. She further speaks of her as having not recovered from the Hard Winter (more on that later) very well. Unhealthy indeed. The youngest (surviving) sibling, Grace (we are told) had never known any meat except salt pork (and a little game) until she was three or four years old.
From her sixth year till her eighth or ninth at least, Laura ate mostly carbohydrate foods, lean game and some salt pork. Again, between her 12th and 15th year, it seems the family's diet was similar. Lots of potatoes and cornmeal, wheat, lots of beans, some fish, and latterly wild waterfowl, which is significantly leaner than the farmed ducks and geese of today. What they ate while in Minnesota (between her third and fourth books) we don't know in detail; they had a farm with kitchen-garden, chickens and cow, but we don't know if they had pigs, or if they actually ate beef. All she tells us of this period is, they had only two poor wheat crops, and most of the family was stricken with scarlet fever.
The worst nutritional debacle of which we read is in "The Hard Winter." Their second winter in Dakota Territory, after the first minimal harvest from the raw prairie, was an extremely harsh one, and the new railroad line was incapable of negotiating the heavy snows that year. The small, isolated town was insufficiently stocked with food and fuel in this frontier area; there was almost no naturally-occurring fuel on the bare prairies, and farming equipment of the time was incapable of pulverizing the tough sod, so that the virgin soil could not yield as had the rich eastern land to which emigrants were accustomed. It seems to me that they were damned lucky to have survived at all.
Assuming that Mrs. Wilder wasn't taking too many liberties with history, we are to understand that the family ran out of meat by Christmas, and subsisted largely on whole wheat and some beans and potatoes between the first of the year and April, when the blizzards ended and supplies became available again. The beans would have been properly soaked before cooking, and we know that the wheat's leavening was produced from an honest-to-god sourdough fermentation ... but we are also told that the whole family is weakened and dumbed-down by their nutritional deficiencies. Her father, meanwhile, does occasional heavy labor.
After this period of nutritional want, though, the family goes back to eating an adequate (even generous) diet, but it is still very carb-heavy. Their celebratory meal in the spring when the "Christmas barrel" arrives (still frozen hard) containing a turkey and cranberries, also includes potatoes, gravy and light bread (made with white flour and yeast), stuffing, pies and a cake. When their garden begins growing and the cow "freshens" they have greens, butter and milk, but it will be months before they have much more than the general store can provide -- white flour, salt pork, cornmeal, potatoes and beans....
Sweets, at least, were a rare treat. We're told that in Laura's earliest years, maple syrup and sugar are annually produced, but not frequently consumed except in tea, on pancakes and mush. Finding a honey-tree was a truly rare and memorable occurrence. Candy was something special, only to be expected as a Christmas gift. Brown-sugar syrup was probably a semi-regular addition to pancakes, though, and when there was fruit harvested (mostly wild) it was dried or preserved with added sugar, depending upon the family's circumstances. Notably in this era, tomatoes were a fruit one expected to eat sweetened.
The final harvest of all this nutritional imbalance we already know: heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The latter condition, Wikipedia tells us, "ran in the family." I wonder if it was running in the family while they were still eating autumn-fat deer, bear, fresh pastured pork, whole dairy and eggs?
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
contentment!
With my husband out of town on business again, yesterday was a modified-Strong-Medicine day, and it felt so GOOOOD! My mental fog has been lifting over the last 36 hours, my joint pain subsiding, and my exhaustion alleviating. The bathroom scale read almost a pound less than yesterday. Today will be more of the same.
In the throes of socializing i forget myself, and if there are contraband foods in front of me, i can't trust myself not to eat them. I'm really safest when it's just me and the dog! :-) Intellectually, i know i'll feel best when i avoid the carbohydrates, and that i'll regret it later ... but the ATMOSPHERE of eating the stuff can be contagious.
Atmospheres are powerful things! Esotericists will tell you, being around depressed people is a downer even for the most optimistic, and the company of criminals blunts one's moral sense. It stands to reason that when you're in the company of people who WANT you to stray from your dietary straight-and-narrow, it's harder to be true to it.
So while Spense and i are alone for these few days, we'll be eating and drinking with conscious intent ... and it'll be EASY. I LIKE meat and coffee, and other low-carb fare. So why do i EVER eat and drink things i shouldn't? Because they're there, and we have a biological drive to take advantage of abundant nutrients, AND a lot of people are constantly sending nonverbal (and verbal) cues urging us to be "bad."
Note to self: when eating and drinking in the company of others, be especially aware of body language that "rewards" me for consuming things i know i shouldn't....
In the throes of socializing i forget myself, and if there are contraband foods in front of me, i can't trust myself not to eat them. I'm really safest when it's just me and the dog! :-) Intellectually, i know i'll feel best when i avoid the carbohydrates, and that i'll regret it later ... but the ATMOSPHERE of eating the stuff can be contagious.
Atmospheres are powerful things! Esotericists will tell you, being around depressed people is a downer even for the most optimistic, and the company of criminals blunts one's moral sense. It stands to reason that when you're in the company of people who WANT you to stray from your dietary straight-and-narrow, it's harder to be true to it.
So while Spense and i are alone for these few days, we'll be eating and drinking with conscious intent ... and it'll be EASY. I LIKE meat and coffee, and other low-carb fare. So why do i EVER eat and drink things i shouldn't? Because they're there, and we have a biological drive to take advantage of abundant nutrients, AND a lot of people are constantly sending nonverbal (and verbal) cues urging us to be "bad."
Note to self: when eating and drinking in the company of others, be especially aware of body language that "rewards" me for consuming things i know i shouldn't....
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
radical health improvement from diet X
Every time i hear about a spectacular health turn-around after a person changes his/her dietary style, the first thing i want to know is, exactly what was changed?
Yep, a Real Home Cooking diet, in which whole foods replace CIAB will make the whole family feel, look and perform better, even if it contains the worst grains and beans in the world. Most plant toxins aren't nearly as nasty as some of the man-made ones which flood the food supplies of modern countries!
I heard the success story of Terry Wahls, and i couldn't be more happy for her! Especially considering her profession, this is a coup for advocates of nutritionally-based medical treatment; she's harder to shrug off than most of us grunts. AND she's very vocal about her situation; :-D ...i do so admire the people who get out there and fight for what i believe in, but into which i am not willing to pour my whole life's-energy. But do i think that her diet is optimal for universal health? No, at least not for me.
The "wow factor" of dietary change frequently depends upon your starting point. Mine has been changing step-wise, and to see how my health has improved i have to search my memory for details that are confounded by (comparative) youth, fitness, etc.
I started out from i categorized above as a Real Home Cooking diet. I grew up eating white bread and corn oil, but at least we always COOKED. Frequent eating-out didn't happen till about twenty years ago, and i had been fighting the battle of the bulge before that. As food-and-supplement fads came and went, i never noticed a significant improvement with ANYTHING until i added systemic enzymes to my daily routine. I suspect i was developing fibromyalgia; i would sit with my feet up and vaguely ache all over. My chronic fatigue i attributed to the hypothyroidism.
So, first enzymes actually promoted some improvement, then my doctor recommended iodine supplementation, and that helped much more. I went on Atkins next, and my general improvement was immensely noticeable. No more morning brain fog, significantly improved allergies, better energy, and weight-loss without constant hunger. I was a FAN.
The biggest reason that low-carbing didn't result in all the weight-loss i could ever have wanted was the temptation to add foods in too soon. One sees all those opportunities to again eat the things the low-fat-me had been denying myself so long.... And, as an enthusiastic cook, i was also hot to adapt old recipes to the new philosophy, and got caught in the carb-creep that is so hard to resist. I screwed up.
I don't remember what led me to Mark's Daily Apple, but it was my portal to the paleo/primal world. I no longer link his site from mine, but it's still one of the first to which i send my paleo-curious friends. Like so many other eating plans, if you go straight to it from the SAD your results will be absolutely stunning: i didn't, so mine were much less noticeable. Not perfect, and nor is the Perfect Health Diet ... for me.
What DID produce jaw-dropping IMPROVEMENT for me was the Personal Paleo Code program, and the Strong Medicine protocol i tried after it. In my case, i found out that health challenges have been all about dietary intolerances and "personal toxins."
So yeah: a veg*n diet will be beneficial ... if you ate absolutely horrible things before. So will Atkins, despite the highly-questionable ingredients in their trademarked products. So will a low-fat diet, if you go from lots of omega-6 oils to almost none (and can stand the hunger).
To eat OPTIMALLY is going to take a lot of n=1 experimentation. Eat only things that are "never" toxic or allergenic for a month, then add things back one at a time, slowly. It's ILLUMINATING.
Yep, a Real Home Cooking diet, in which whole foods replace CIAB will make the whole family feel, look and perform better, even if it contains the worst grains and beans in the world. Most plant toxins aren't nearly as nasty as some of the man-made ones which flood the food supplies of modern countries!
I heard the success story of Terry Wahls, and i couldn't be more happy for her! Especially considering her profession, this is a coup for advocates of nutritionally-based medical treatment; she's harder to shrug off than most of us grunts. AND she's very vocal about her situation; :-D ...i do so admire the people who get out there and fight for what i believe in, but into which i am not willing to pour my whole life's-energy. But do i think that her diet is optimal for universal health? No, at least not for me.
The "wow factor" of dietary change frequently depends upon your starting point. Mine has been changing step-wise, and to see how my health has improved i have to search my memory for details that are confounded by (comparative) youth, fitness, etc.
I started out from i categorized above as a Real Home Cooking diet. I grew up eating white bread and corn oil, but at least we always COOKED. Frequent eating-out didn't happen till about twenty years ago, and i had been fighting the battle of the bulge before that. As food-and-supplement fads came and went, i never noticed a significant improvement with ANYTHING until i added systemic enzymes to my daily routine. I suspect i was developing fibromyalgia; i would sit with my feet up and vaguely ache all over. My chronic fatigue i attributed to the hypothyroidism.
So, first enzymes actually promoted some improvement, then my doctor recommended iodine supplementation, and that helped much more. I went on Atkins next, and my general improvement was immensely noticeable. No more morning brain fog, significantly improved allergies, better energy, and weight-loss without constant hunger. I was a FAN.
The biggest reason that low-carbing didn't result in all the weight-loss i could ever have wanted was the temptation to add foods in too soon. One sees all those opportunities to again eat the things the low-fat-me had been denying myself so long.... And, as an enthusiastic cook, i was also hot to adapt old recipes to the new philosophy, and got caught in the carb-creep that is so hard to resist. I screwed up.
I don't remember what led me to Mark's Daily Apple, but it was my portal to the paleo/primal world. I no longer link his site from mine, but it's still one of the first to which i send my paleo-curious friends. Like so many other eating plans, if you go straight to it from the SAD your results will be absolutely stunning: i didn't, so mine were much less noticeable. Not perfect, and nor is the Perfect Health Diet ... for me.
What DID produce jaw-dropping IMPROVEMENT for me was the Personal Paleo Code program, and the Strong Medicine protocol i tried after it. In my case, i found out that health challenges have been all about dietary intolerances and "personal toxins."
So yeah: a veg*n diet will be beneficial ... if you ate absolutely horrible things before. So will Atkins, despite the highly-questionable ingredients in their trademarked products. So will a low-fat diet, if you go from lots of omega-6 oils to almost none (and can stand the hunger).
To eat OPTIMALLY is going to take a lot of n=1 experimentation. Eat only things that are "never" toxic or allergenic for a month, then add things back one at a time, slowly. It's ILLUMINATING.
Friday, June 1, 2012
sometimes, fasting just FEELS good!
With one thing and another, my dietary habits have been VERY discombobulated this week! I did well at my event, but not at my daughter's house. It's a social thing -- we talk a lot and drink more wine absent-mindedly, then our inhibitions are down and we eat things we shouldn't. Yesterday i fasted till mid-afternoon, and i felt significantly better ... till i overloaded at dinnertime. My digestion felt very "off." This morning, even coffee doesn't sound very good.
Here in the Houston area, it never gets COLD, ever. Nor does the humidity ever go away. Mold is a problem, and i'm sensitive to it.
When an animal doesn't feel well, it goes off its feed, and even children instinctively lose their appetites when under the weather (till their ignorant parents succumb to marketing, and ply them with drugs and drinks). Nature knows what she's doing.
I've learned from Nature, too -- our afflicted digestive systems "reset" themselves best when not burdened with input. I'll be taking it MUCH easier today, and staying away from "yeast" foods like cheese, wine, mushrooms, etc.
Dr. Donaldson, in "Strong Medicine," spoke extensively about allergy, and Dr. Atkins devoted a couple of chapters to food sensitivity as well. The variety of unpleasant symptoms possible when one eats "incompatible" things is truly impressive. Who would think that a little sugar would result in sinus issues ... but it can. Ditto for pollen in the air and weight loss, and for a surprising range of foodstuffs and athlete's-foot. One of most beneficial effects of an all-fresh-meat diet MAY just be its low-histidine aspects.
Thank heavens i have some potato-based gin to fall back on if needed -- less reactive than things like wine and grain alcohols! Alcohol HAS therapeutic uses, after all.... ;-)
Here in the Houston area, it never gets COLD, ever. Nor does the humidity ever go away. Mold is a problem, and i'm sensitive to it.
When an animal doesn't feel well, it goes off its feed, and even children instinctively lose their appetites when under the weather (till their ignorant parents succumb to marketing, and ply them with drugs and drinks). Nature knows what she's doing.
I've learned from Nature, too -- our afflicted digestive systems "reset" themselves best when not burdened with input. I'll be taking it MUCH easier today, and staying away from "yeast" foods like cheese, wine, mushrooms, etc.
Dr. Donaldson, in "Strong Medicine," spoke extensively about allergy, and Dr. Atkins devoted a couple of chapters to food sensitivity as well. The variety of unpleasant symptoms possible when one eats "incompatible" things is truly impressive. Who would think that a little sugar would result in sinus issues ... but it can. Ditto for pollen in the air and weight loss, and for a surprising range of foodstuffs and athlete's-foot. One of most beneficial effects of an all-fresh-meat diet MAY just be its low-histidine aspects.
Thank heavens i have some potato-based gin to fall back on if needed -- less reactive than things like wine and grain alcohols! Alcohol HAS therapeutic uses, after all.... ;-)
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
hunger in this microcosm
OOOOkay: getting rid of leftovers has already taught me something. If my diet doesn't have enough protein in it, fat only satisfies me to a point.
Low-carb creamed eggs on paleo biscuits ("Paleo Comfort Foods" recipe) for dinner last night. Ditto, without the biscuit, for breakfast. Two hours later, i was hungry. Each serving had about 2.5 eggs in it, less than 16 grams of protein. There was ample fat in the meal, PLUS what my own poundage has to contribute.
As a child, i always craved protein. MEAT. We were a poorish family, and though we generally had animal protein as a centerpiece for dinner, there was not always a lot of it. On the occasions when we indulged ourselves at restaurants, i usually opted for beef. The body is wise when not addicted to carbs.
At the time of life when i started having to work at maintaining an appropriate weight, the low-fat paradigm had taken hold. I knew i could have all the food i wanted, including things like baked chicken breast and low-fat fish. Nevertheless, i always felt hungry ... even when my belly was quite full. In those days, i probably weighed 15 pounds less than i do now, and was less metabolically-challenged. But i had a hard time accessing my own fat stores, because i was trying to satisfy appetite with pasta and rice and home-made bread (any of you aging ex-athletes remember "Eat to Win"?) -- lipolysis just ain't gonna happen with all THAT insulin floating around.
Inspired by "Strong Medicine" and the ladies on PaleoHacks who report good results on a zero-carb diet, i learned that eating nothing but fatty meat is not going to set me up for ill health. I tried it, like it, and thrive on it. But the central message is: both "fatty" and "meat" have to be ample. Not enough meat, and my body rebels with hunger. Not enough fat, ditto. I don't get carb cravings, though sometimes i want "dessert" after a meal; coffee alone can satisfy this, but if my meal was smallish for some reason, a quarter-cup of cream is the perfect finish.
"The REST of the story"? :-) I just polished off the creamed eggs (no biscuit), and now am FULL as well as satisfied. Happy ending.
Low-carb creamed eggs on paleo biscuits ("Paleo Comfort Foods" recipe) for dinner last night. Ditto, without the biscuit, for breakfast. Two hours later, i was hungry. Each serving had about 2.5 eggs in it, less than 16 grams of protein. There was ample fat in the meal, PLUS what my own poundage has to contribute.
As a child, i always craved protein. MEAT. We were a poorish family, and though we generally had animal protein as a centerpiece for dinner, there was not always a lot of it. On the occasions when we indulged ourselves at restaurants, i usually opted for beef. The body is wise when not addicted to carbs.
At the time of life when i started having to work at maintaining an appropriate weight, the low-fat paradigm had taken hold. I knew i could have all the food i wanted, including things like baked chicken breast and low-fat fish. Nevertheless, i always felt hungry ... even when my belly was quite full. In those days, i probably weighed 15 pounds less than i do now, and was less metabolically-challenged. But i had a hard time accessing my own fat stores, because i was trying to satisfy appetite with pasta and rice and home-made bread (any of you aging ex-athletes remember "Eat to Win"?) -- lipolysis just ain't gonna happen with all THAT insulin floating around.
Inspired by "Strong Medicine" and the ladies on PaleoHacks who report good results on a zero-carb diet, i learned that eating nothing but fatty meat is not going to set me up for ill health. I tried it, like it, and thrive on it. But the central message is: both "fatty" and "meat" have to be ample. Not enough meat, and my body rebels with hunger. Not enough fat, ditto. I don't get carb cravings, though sometimes i want "dessert" after a meal; coffee alone can satisfy this, but if my meal was smallish for some reason, a quarter-cup of cream is the perfect finish.
"The REST of the story"? :-) I just polished off the creamed eggs (no biscuit), and now am FULL as well as satisfied. Happy ending.
medicine and medicine
[rant alert]
It's a pity that certain words have more than one definition, and "medicine" may be the poster-child for the situation. It's been one of the sad aspects of twentieth-century doctoring, that people don't feel they've been treated unless they leave the physician's office with a prescription. Not that pharmaceuticals have NO place in therapy -- OBVIOUSLY.... But drugs do not a CURE make.
Antibiotics are the first things that spring to mind. Certain infections, which once-upon-a-time were FATAL, are now manageable through the use of these marvellous drugs. Irresponsible use of them causes more intractable conditions. I don't need to elaborate.
Being an outsider in the world of diabetes, i can't speak with any personal reference -- i can just quote Dr. Donaldson: "...You are out of your mind when you take insulin in order to eat Danish pastry...." I feel that this goes for a lot of things that dieters do in order to eat their cake and have it, too. If carbohydrates are making you sick, it's insane to try to ameliorate the effects with the "patch" of some medicaments while STILL eating them.
Some people i know also believe in taking antidepressants without making lifestyle changes. In the short term this may be reasonable, but as a permanency, it's (dare i say it) crazy. If there's something wrong with your food choice/stress/exercise circumstances, your life is screwed up, and popping a pill (or drinking a fifth) is not going to cure it.
People are going to have to steel themselves to doing things the hard way for a little while, if they want to really improve their health, rather than simply dull their symptoms! Believing television commercials, which promise "temporary relief" INDEFINITELY, is just bloody stupid.
Allopathic medicine, in seeking to treat symptoms instead of remove causes of illness, is one root of the problem. "Letting" patients do things the easy way instead of describing to them the right way has encouraged the culture of slatternliness in which we live. You can only sweep the dust under the rug so long, before you have a hill to climb in your own house. Personally, i prefer floors which are planar in my rooms.
It's a pity that certain words have more than one definition, and "medicine" may be the poster-child for the situation. It's been one of the sad aspects of twentieth-century doctoring, that people don't feel they've been treated unless they leave the physician's office with a prescription. Not that pharmaceuticals have NO place in therapy -- OBVIOUSLY.... But drugs do not a CURE make.
Antibiotics are the first things that spring to mind. Certain infections, which once-upon-a-time were FATAL, are now manageable through the use of these marvellous drugs. Irresponsible use of them causes more intractable conditions. I don't need to elaborate.
Being an outsider in the world of diabetes, i can't speak with any personal reference -- i can just quote Dr. Donaldson: "...You are out of your mind when you take insulin in order to eat Danish pastry...." I feel that this goes for a lot of things that dieters do in order to eat their cake and have it, too. If carbohydrates are making you sick, it's insane to try to ameliorate the effects with the "patch" of some medicaments while STILL eating them.
Some people i know also believe in taking antidepressants without making lifestyle changes. In the short term this may be reasonable, but as a permanency, it's (dare i say it) crazy. If there's something wrong with your food choice/stress/exercise circumstances, your life is screwed up, and popping a pill (or drinking a fifth) is not going to cure it.
People are going to have to steel themselves to doing things the hard way for a little while, if they want to really improve their health, rather than simply dull their symptoms! Believing television commercials, which promise "temporary relief" INDEFINITELY, is just bloody stupid.
Allopathic medicine, in seeking to treat symptoms instead of remove causes of illness, is one root of the problem. "Letting" patients do things the easy way instead of describing to them the right way has encouraged the culture of slatternliness in which we live. You can only sweep the dust under the rug so long, before you have a hill to climb in your own house. Personally, i prefer floors which are planar in my rooms.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
welcome to my world -- i mean "bloglist"
Thanks to Kateryna, i've decided to add another writer to my bloglist. I've only just begun to read his articles, but my first impression of Peter Attia is very good indeed.
His blog is called "the war on insulin," which to my mind is slightly different from a "war on carbohydrates." Interestingly enough, Dr. Donaldson stated in his 1960s memoir that a number of doctors, even then, believed "insulin itself may promote hardening of the arteries".... I've only felt passing interest in the subject of insulin, because i have no inkling that i have a problem with it, outside of its combination with carbs inducing weight gain in this aging body.
I know that insulin performs a variety of very important tasks throughout the human body. I'm also aware that my "sufficient" intake of protein induces a release of it. What i'm fuzzy about is, how and why it "escorts" other hormones in various cells, especially in the brain.
It's time for me to learn this stuff, and i think Dr. Attia's site is a good place to start. Thanks, Kateryna!
His blog is called "the war on insulin," which to my mind is slightly different from a "war on carbohydrates." Interestingly enough, Dr. Donaldson stated in his 1960s memoir that a number of doctors, even then, believed "insulin itself may promote hardening of the arteries".... I've only felt passing interest in the subject of insulin, because i have no inkling that i have a problem with it, outside of its combination with carbs inducing weight gain in this aging body.
I know that insulin performs a variety of very important tasks throughout the human body. I'm also aware that my "sufficient" intake of protein induces a release of it. What i'm fuzzy about is, how and why it "escorts" other hormones in various cells, especially in the brain.
It's time for me to learn this stuff, and i think Dr. Attia's site is a good place to start. Thanks, Kateryna!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
good morning!
*Sigh of content*
Oh brother, do i feel better on my "Strong Medicine"! When i allow myself the treat of rice, wine, cheese, potatoes, etc., my senses may enjoy the indulgence but my body starts to rebel, and communicates its displeasure in various unpleasant ways. It's just like a small child pushing boundaries: has fun for a little while, but ultimately relieved when discipline is reasserted!
I got to bed and to sleep with excellent timing last night, and to my delight and surprise, i felt like taking the prescribed morning walk shortly after awakening to the alarm. Spense and i had a good "constitutional," then i had a patty of the delicious ground pastured pork that's grown in the area (he enjoyed licking the plate when i was done) with a cup of coffee. I could use a second cup, but will settle for water -- without lime, because we're fresh out of it. Perfect: but i'll stop blowing my own horn, now. ;-)
For some reason, it's pure joy getting up early and being outside in the morning, in the springtime! I remember feeling the same way as a kid; i have a specific picture of being outside early in the morning, climbing up a neighbor's jungle-gym and just enjoying being alone, taking in the balmy summer morning. This vision reminds me -- i need to plant some four-o'clocks!
My tomato and bell-pepper seedlings are doing splendidly; i thinned them today. They're both from saved seed, and i hope the pepper does as well as the tomato did last year -- the latter was a volunteer (my thanks to the bird or squirrel who "planted" it for me) from the PREVIOUS year's planting.... At frost, i brought in all the green fruits, even the smallest, to ripen on the window-sill -- and the greenest stayed there all winter, till i was ready to plant! Obviously "meant to be"!
Today i'll put the rest of my bedding plants in their summer homes: red and white begonias in their front-porch pots (north), and impatiens in the ground by the garage. Last year's plantings (sunchokes and garlic) are growing nicely, and the rhubarb is hearty -- planted THAT two years ago, and with any luck i'll get to harvest some this year. Still need to buy more plants, for the urn on the west porch and that southern window-box....
"And isn't it a LOOOOVELY morning?" ;-)
Oh brother, do i feel better on my "Strong Medicine"! When i allow myself the treat of rice, wine, cheese, potatoes, etc., my senses may enjoy the indulgence but my body starts to rebel, and communicates its displeasure in various unpleasant ways. It's just like a small child pushing boundaries: has fun for a little while, but ultimately relieved when discipline is reasserted!
I got to bed and to sleep with excellent timing last night, and to my delight and surprise, i felt like taking the prescribed morning walk shortly after awakening to the alarm. Spense and i had a good "constitutional," then i had a patty of the delicious ground pastured pork that's grown in the area (he enjoyed licking the plate when i was done) with a cup of coffee. I could use a second cup, but will settle for water -- without lime, because we're fresh out of it. Perfect: but i'll stop blowing my own horn, now. ;-)
For some reason, it's pure joy getting up early and being outside in the morning, in the springtime! I remember feeling the same way as a kid; i have a specific picture of being outside early in the morning, climbing up a neighbor's jungle-gym and just enjoying being alone, taking in the balmy summer morning. This vision reminds me -- i need to plant some four-o'clocks!
My tomato and bell-pepper seedlings are doing splendidly; i thinned them today. They're both from saved seed, and i hope the pepper does as well as the tomato did last year -- the latter was a volunteer (my thanks to the bird or squirrel who "planted" it for me) from the PREVIOUS year's planting.... At frost, i brought in all the green fruits, even the smallest, to ripen on the window-sill -- and the greenest stayed there all winter, till i was ready to plant! Obviously "meant to be"!
Today i'll put the rest of my bedding plants in their summer homes: red and white begonias in their front-porch pots (north), and impatiens in the ground by the garage. Last year's plantings (sunchokes and garlic) are growing nicely, and the rhubarb is hearty -- planted THAT two years ago, and with any luck i'll get to harvest some this year. Still need to buy more plants, for the urn on the west porch and that southern window-box....
"And isn't it a LOOOOVELY morning?" ;-)
Monday, April 2, 2012
first day of the rest of my paleo life
I love coffee,
I love tea,
I love the java....
lol -- couldn't resist. After yesterday, i figured it was appropriate.
Whew, yesterday.... Even Nature was playing April Fool jokes; ninety degrees this early in the year is just weird. Today will be that hot again, and then we'll get some more seasonable weather.
Last week's orgy of eating out is over. Having started being "good" again (i swear, i really wasn't that bad), last night i re-read various sections of "Strong Medicine" again, as a reminder and an inspiration. I've also re-watched a few of the videos from last summer's Ancestral Health Symposium. Dr. Lustig's presentation (as well as some others) was so technically descriptive, it amazes me that anyone can argue with the insulin hypothesis! So who should one believe, theoreticians or practicing physicians who actually improve the health of live human patients...?
Anyhow! Off i go, yet again, with absolutely no cheating this week. Next week i'll have houseguests, so "perfection" will be out the window, but i'll still keep the carbs as low as i can, even though i'll be in restaurants again. *Sigh* Wish to heaven that the professionals cooked like i do....
I love tea,
I love the java....
lol -- couldn't resist. After yesterday, i figured it was appropriate.
Whew, yesterday.... Even Nature was playing April Fool jokes; ninety degrees this early in the year is just weird. Today will be that hot again, and then we'll get some more seasonable weather.
Last week's orgy of eating out is over. Having started being "good" again (i swear, i really wasn't that bad), last night i re-read various sections of "Strong Medicine" again, as a reminder and an inspiration. I've also re-watched a few of the videos from last summer's Ancestral Health Symposium. Dr. Lustig's presentation (as well as some others) was so technically descriptive, it amazes me that anyone can argue with the insulin hypothesis! So who should one believe, theoreticians or practicing physicians who actually improve the health of live human patients...?
Anyhow! Off i go, yet again, with absolutely no cheating this week. Next week i'll have houseguests, so "perfection" will be out the window, but i'll still keep the carbs as low as i can, even though i'll be in restaurants again. *Sigh* Wish to heaven that the professionals cooked like i do....
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